ಶ್ರೀ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ

Mythology tells us that the great sage Gouthama had his hermitage at Kumbhasi and several sages, including Agastya, did tapas here. The Ganapathi Temple on top of the hill and the Temple of Mahalingeshwara at the foot – at the place where Sage Gouthama’s ashram stood once – are intimately connected. Legend has it that Parvathi wanted Ganapathi to find a holy place where Ganga, held in Shiva’s matted hair, could descend to bless people. Disguised as a young novice, Ganapathi came to Gouthama’s ashram with a cow. When the cow died in his ashram, Gouthama prayed to Lord Shiva, asked him to pour the sacred water of Ganga from his locks, held it in his kamandala, sprinkled it on the cow and brought it back to life. That served Ganapathi’s, and Parvathi’s, purpose. The small kumbha-shaped well in the sanctum sanctorum of the Mahalingeshwara Temple was created from Gouthama’s kamandala and its water is blessed by the presence of Mother Ganga. Nearby, in the parikrama of the temple, there is another little well. It is the pure and sacred water of this well that is taken up every day to Anegudde for the abhisheka of Lord Ganapathi..

In Dwapara, a powerful Rakshasa named Kumbha, strengthened by boons he obtained from Lord Shiva through rigorous penance, troubled the sages of Gouthama’s hermitage. When the Pandavas were passing this way on a pilgrimage, Sage Gouthama appealed to Yudhistira to come to the aid of the inmates of the Ashram. Yudhistira asked his brother Bhima, who was ever ready to fight with the Rakshasas, to destroy Kumbha and his army.

But Kumbha, strengthened as he was by divine boons, proved a match even for Bhima. After a daylong battle with the Rakshasa proved inconclusive, Bhima heard a voice from the Heavens announce that Kumbha could be destroyed only with an asi or sword obtained from Lord Ganapathi. So Bhima worshipped Ganapathi, who appeared before him in the form of an elephant and gave him a mighty sword. With that sword or asi Bhima decapitated Kumbha and destroyed his demon army. The place where Bhima killed Kumbha with an asi came to be known as Kumbhasi. And the hill where Lord Ganapathi appeared before him, earlier called Nagachala, became known as Elephant Hill – ‘Gajagiri’ in Sanskrit and ‘Anegudde’ in Kannada

The image of Lord Ganapathi worshipped here is a large stone untouched by hammer and chisel. The silver image we see every day and the gold face the Lord dons on special occasions are mukhawadas. The original image – the Moola Bimba – is ‘niraakaara’; it seems to have no lineaments carved on it, either by Nature or human hand, though many people think that a faint trace of an elephant’s trunk is discernible. We can see this Moola Bimba twice during the day – once at dawn when the Nirmaalya Pooja is performed, and again at Noon when the Abhisheka is performed before the Maha Pooja. Watching the abhisheka of the Moola Bimba is a wonderful spiritual experience. Devotees watch the Moola Bimba with bated breath during this ritual. They become all eyes, and look for the Lord, seek some lineament that might suggest the features of the Elephant headed God. Their keenness and anxiety have to be seen to be believed. Without realizing it, these devotees have taken their first step towards salvation. They have become seekers.

At Anegudde the long train of abhishekhas, archanas and poojas begins at dawn, and continues till the final Mangalaarathi is performed at night, around 9 P.M. The day begins with the chanting of ‘Suprabhaatha’, and then comes the Nirmaalya pooja. The flowers with which the Lord was decorated the previous night are removed, and the silver covering is taken off. The Moola Bimba is given an abhisheka of pure water brought from the well below. The abhisheka is performed with mantras from Ganapathi Atharvasheersha. Then the silver covering is replaced, but with one important difference. The head remains unchanged, but the silver covering used for the body is a different one this time. The Lord is not sitting now. He is standing, ready to receive the innumerable poojas, sevas, and archanas his devotees offer to him.

The morning pooja is next performed. This long morning ritual takes place at dawn all through the year, except in the month of Karthika, when it is performed an hour earlier, at the time the birds wake up. It is called Pakshi Jaagara Pooja.

The Lord who took the standing posture after the Abhisheka in the morning, keeps standing till eleven or half past eleven, when the Abhisheka that precedes the Maha Pooja begins. This Abhisheka, with kalasha, is done twenty-one times, with Upanishat mantras. This is followed by Panchamrita Abhisheka. The Bimba is washed again with shuddha kalasha, with the same sacred water from Gouthama Theertha. The full Abhisheka takes more than half an hour.

Then the Bimba is decorated with a few flowers. Those who watch this carefully can see that a pattern emerges from the way the flowers are arranged – the sacred word, ‘OM’. Ganapathi is worshipped at Anegudde as Om-kaara Moorthi, or Pranava Swaroopa. You must perceive him with your ears as well as your eyes.

When the silver covering is replaced, and the image recreated after the Abhisheka, you will find the seated figure of Ganapathi. He will keep on sitting for the rest of the day and for the whole night, till he decides to stand up again the next morning – after his morning Abhisheka.

One of the most important sevas devotees can offer here is Gana homa. These homas are performed every day except on ekaadashi, ranging from that of one coconut to 1008 coconuts. ‘Upanishat Homa’, based on Ganapathi Athrvasheersha Upanishat, is another rare homa that can be performed here. These homas and yajnas are performed in a Yajna Mantapa so well designed that even during the biggest yajnas and yaagas the devotees who throng the mantapa and the priests who sit round the yajna kunda are not troubled by heat and smoke. The Gana homas, which begin at Ten, get over around the time the Abhisheka gets over. Then the image worshipped in the Yajana Mantapa is brought in to the sanctum sanctorum and placed before the main image. Now the Maha Pooja begins.

Apart from Gana homas, the devotees can offer to the Lord a variety of Sevas, from simple aarathis and archanas to Satya Ganapathi Vritha, Ranga Pooja, Maha Pooja and so on. The Lord of Anegudde is very fond kotte kadabu, an iddli like delicacy cooked in leaves of Mundaka. So people offer him kadabus, made from one seru to twelve mudis – about 400 kilos! – of rice. Moodu Ganapathi is another unusual seva that can be offered here. Devotees bring 125 or 1,108 coconuts, the broken halves of which are arranged in a heap before the Lord and then decorated with fruits and flowers. Devotees feel that Ganapathi rises in these decorated heaps of coconuts, and that is why the seva is called Moodu Ganapathi – or ‘Rising Ganapathi.’

Though Bhima worshipped Ganapathi at Nagachala, it is not clear whether he worshipped any image of the Lord. But most devotees believe that the bimba they worship now at Anegudde is the one that Bhima worshipped earlier, and before him Agastya and others. This Moola Bimba was discovered about a hundred and fifty years ago. The temple was built some years later.

At Korgi, a small village five miles east of Kumbhasi, lived a devout Brahmin named Vishveshwara Upadhya. He used to visit Kumbhasi regularly to have a dip in the sacred Pushkarani surrounding the temple and have a darshana of Lord Mahalingeshwara. In his dream one night he saw a young novice who told him he was hungry, and then led him towards Kumbhasi. At Anegudde the boy suddenly disappeared near a large stone. Vishveshwara Upadhya was deeply moved by the dream. Next morning he followed the path he had taken in his dream and soon arrived at the spot where the boy had disappeared, and saw that stone again. He had seen it on innumerable occasions on his way to Kumbhasi, but on that day he felt that he saw in that stone the features of Lord Ganapathi. He was thrilled. There were flowering trees like Bakul near the stone, and he saw that their flowers had fallen, on their own, on the image. He was so impressed by what he saw that on his way back from Kumbhasi he brought some water from the sacred well of Gouthama Teertha and poured it on the image, and worshipped it with wild flowers and fruits he gathered from the surrounding bushes and trees.

Whatever doubts this devout Brahmin might have had about the presence of divinity in that Stone disappeared, they say, when he saw, a few days later, a cow standing near the Stone, milk from its udder pouring on it. He now became an ardent devotee of Lord Ganapathi, and worshipping that image with proper rituals became his life’s mission. People, impressed by his devotion, gave him a place to stay at Kumbhasi, so that he need not come all the way from Korgi every day to do his pooja. He built for himself a house there, but only after he built a little temple of thatched roof for the God he worshipped at Anegudde.

That temple, which remained an obscure one for several decades, is the Ganapathi temple of Anegudde, which thousands visit every day now, and hundreds of thousands on special occasions. Vishveshwara Upadhya passed away long before the temple he built became one of the best loved temples of our District. But his descendents, who are now the hereditary archakas of the temple, worship Lord Ganesha with the same devotion and fervour as their ancestor did.

There are Guest Houses for people who come from distant places, and free food is provided to people at noon, after the Maha Pooja. The temple and its surroundings are kept clean. The place is open, green and breezy.

The temple is easily accessible. The place is between Kundapura and Udupi on N.H.66, five km from Kundapura and 26 km from Udupi. A big arch indicates where you have to turn east, and you can get down from your bus there and walk up to the temple, or drive right up to the temple door. You can offer your simple sevas like aarathis and archanas, and your pradakshina namaskaaras, at any time of the day. If you want to perform Gana Homa you should reach the temple by 11, and then be prepared to wait for an hour or so, till the homa gets over, for the prasaada. Early intimation is necessary for the bigger Sevas.

The old traditional way of going to the Temple is a little more arduous, but much more interesting. You get down from your bus at the Kumbhasi Bus Stop which is about 150 yards north of the Arch. A straight road takes you to the Mahalingeshwara (also known as Harihareshwara) Temple and Gouthama Teertha, which are only a furlong away. At the North East corner of this Temple you find steep steps going up to Anegudde. If you are old you might find the climb tough, but those who live at Kumbhasi, mostly descendents of Vishveshwara Upadhya, ascend these steps at least once a day, as long as they are on their feet, even when they are past seventy. After climbing these steps you reach a Mantapa where you can sit and get your wind back. From the Mantapa you can see in the north the Kutachadri Hills of the Sahyadri Range, and in the west, the Arabian sea; and in the east, sitting pretty behind an ancient Ashwattha tree, just a minute’s walk away, the Maha Ganapathi Temple of Anegudde.